WOODSTOWN — As if it wasn’t enough that the Woodstown High School boys soccer team last played a game on Oct. 26, the No. 2 Wolverines had to wait an extra half-hour to start Monday’s South Jersey Group II first-round game with No. 15 Barnegat because the Bengals showed up about 15 minutes late.

But after the first whistle blew around 12:30 p.m., the hosts got started just the way head coach Darren Huck would have wished.

Mark McGowan sent a throw-in down the left sideline and Spencer Schaefer forced a corner kick on the Wolverines’ first possession. Brandon Dean sent the corner into the box, where Matt Simmermon finished to the far side just 43 seconds in.

Seventy-nine minutes of regulation later, Woodstown finished off a 5-1 win to move on to the quarterfinals against No. 7 Cinnaminson.

“That was definitely key to get up early. We needed to set the tone right from the start,” Dean said. “We got down there and got a touch on the ball early. It was good to set the tone like that.”

Huck admitted he had some nerves after nine straight days without a game.

“I thought coming into it that the mental toughness was going to be the factor,” he said. “Going almost 10 days without playing a game, trying to organize practices and all that. When you’re playing Monday, Wednesday, Friday, or Tuesday and Thursday, it’s so regimented. Here it’s like, ‘When do you think we’re going to play?’

“Then to start the game, we were out here at 11 o’clock and they didn’t show up until after 12, so for an hour-and-a-half we were out here. And that’s a long time, especially for these conditions with the cold and wind and all.”

But Huck’s Wolverines handled the pressure, and thanks to a Dean goal on a free kick with 30 seconds left in the first half, Woodstown held a 3-1 lead.

Derek Smith scored his first goal of the year with 26:54 left in the half. Barnegat’s only goal came on a Ryan Peters PK 2:29 later.

“You wonder how they’re going to be, but they went out and scored (43) seconds in,” Huck said. “It was a beautiful cross from Brandon Dean and he got it to Matt Simmermon, who had a nice finish. ... It’s just timely goals. The goal right before the half from Brandon Dean was big. He read the goalkeeper on the near post and he just put it away (on the far post).

“There’s something about scoring a goal like that right before the half. I told them if we score first after halftime, we could pretty much shut the door on them.”

And the Wolverines did just that.

Less than three minutes into the second half, freshman Geoff Schaefer put a shot on Max Ritner, who couldn’t control the rebound, allowimg Eric Hepler to chip one in for a 4-1 lead. Geoff Schaefer eventually finished the scoring with 21:18 left, and the Wolverines held the Bengals off with solid defense and goaltending by Nick Borzio.

“We played solid,” Huck said. “For a little bit we were popping the ball around in the air, but once we get the ball to the ground we’re pretty good. We work the ball around well and we did a good job once they settled down.”

Dean said the Wolverines are excited to get the first round out of the way and keep rolling through the bracket. After No. 9 West Deptford completed a surprising upset of No. 1 Haddonfield, the Wolverines are set for a home-field run to the finals.

“We want to keep working and get farther than we did last year,” Dean said. “We want to show that we’re not just a top seed, but we belong there. We want to go all the way.”